


more in common than you know

by veroniquemagique



Series: mistakes to be learned from [1]
Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veroniquemagique/pseuds/veroniquemagique
Summary: Miss Hardbroom catches Mildred making a potion to use against Ethel Hallow, but when she explains why, Mildred finds she has more in common with her menacing teacher than she would've expected.





	more in common than you know

Mildred glanced around her cauldron, counting out each of the ingredients she carefully measured, triple checking that they were all there still. Her eyes scanned the pages of the textbook, perched open at the page of the perfect potion to solve her Ethel problem. Ethel had really crossed a line this time, and Mildred figured this was the best way to deal with it in the moment – besides, Ethel deserved it.

“Eye of toad… pondweed…” she plucks the ingredients from their dishes and plops them in one by one, then reaches very carefully for the next, a delicate bloom sharing the name of her dear friend Enid. “Alright, now, nightshade peta-”

“ _Mildred Hubble.”_

Before Mildred can pluck the petals from their stem, Miss Hardbroom’s voice cuts through the room, causing her to drop the flower from her hands altogether. Mildred cautiously looks up at the witch standing in the entrance to the room. She watches Mildred down her long nose as she slowly approached, the anger twitching in her face scaring Mildred more by each step.

“What are you doing?” She says, eyes roaming over Mildred’s set up before her– the book, the ingredients, the bubbling blue-tinged cauldron. “Unauthorized magic during school hours? What is the meaning of this?”

Mildred opens her mouth to speak, and the words spill out much faster than she intends, shaking with the fear of her impending punishment. “Um, you see, Miss Hardbroom, I just- Ethel, she-”

Miss Hardbroom’s eyes narrow at the sound of her star pupil’s name. “I don’t want to hear about another petty squabble of yours with Ethel Hallow, Mildred. A childish argument is no excuse for disobeying school rules.”

“But I-” Mildred swallows slowly, “it wasn’t an argument Miss Hardbroom, she-”

With the sharp motion of Miss Hardbroom’s hand, she falls silent.

“Enough,” Miss Hardbroom begins to turn away to her desk as she speaks, Mildred knowing her punishment is looming.

“But Miss Hardbroom, I’m not…” she stops herself and slumps back on the stool behind the desk. “Oh, what bother… You’d probably agree with her anyways. You always do.”

Miss Hardbroom freezes and glances back over her shoulder. “Pardon me?”

Mildred shakes her head. “Never mind, Miss Hardbroom, just give me detention.”

Mildred gets a fright when Miss Hardbroom materializes beside her, looming impossibly close.

“Explain yourself immediately, Mildred Hubble. I do not appreciate accusations and presumptions of my character.”

Mildred sighs and her gaze falls to her lap. “Ethel… called me a name.”

She can sense Miss Hardbroom’s long fingers clenching tightly as she struggles with patience for Mildred, because she’s done this dance with the teacher far too many times before.

“You came to my classroom to prepare an unauthorized…” she glances at the open pages of Mildred’s book, “ _silencing spell_ , because Ethel Hallow _called you a name_?”

“It wasn’t just a name, Miss Hardbroom,” Mildred mutters quietly, not looking up at the woman.

“And what, pray tell, did Ethel Hallow call you then?”

“Um…” Mildred bites her lip, “I don’t really want to…”

“Mildred,” Miss Hardbroom snaps.

Mildred falls silent for a moment, and swallows hard before she speaks. “Ethel called me a… battygirl.”

She finally looks up at Miss Hardbroom, whose eyes have blown wider than she’s ever recalled them being.

“Ethel Hallow said _what?_ ” She clenches at her sleeve tight enough that Mildred is sure she must be hurting herself. “You best not be pulling a childish prank, Mildred Hubble.”

“I’m not!” Mildred protests. “I didn’t even know what the word meant until Enid explained it to me.”

Miss Hardbroom loosens her grip and her hand falls to her side, but her sharp gaze never leaves Mildred. As she watches Miss Hardbroom’s face twitch slightly, looking almost… she can’t quite place it, but she thinks it looks pained, Mildred wonders if she’ll ever stop staring at her so.

Suddenly, she snaps her head up and clenches her jaw. “Very well then, I shall speak to Ethel Hallow immediately. That language is unacceptable.”

“No!” Mildred cries out as Miss Hardbroom raises her hand to transfer away. “Miss Hardbroom, please don’t do that! She’ll know I tattled on her and then she’ll bother me about it even more…”

Miss Hardbroom slowly lowers her hand and her eyes scan Mildred intently. “Mildred Hubble… tell me what happened.”

_-_

_Mildred approached the dining table with her tray full of today’s unthinkable disaster courtesy of Miss Tapioca, taking a seat between her friends. Across from the trio sat Ethel Hallow, as well as a few of the other girls in their form that Mildred didn’t really know but had been seeing around Ethel much more in the past few weeks. They seem to be talking quite enthusiastically about… something._

_“Don’t you just wish Cackle’s was co-ed like Pentangle’s? Then we could see wizards all the time,” Ethel says just as Mildred situates herself across from the girl and lays her tray before her._

_Enid smirks beside her. “You’re just saying that because you’d like to see Zac again, Ethel.”_

_Ethel’s face turns a furious red and she glares at Enid across the table. “Shut up, Nightshade.” Mildred watches her try to keep her cool composure, as she adds, “I’ll have you know Zac and I have been… corresponding since the Spelling Bee. He’s quite the gracious loser.”_

_“Unlike some of us,” Mildred snorts._

_Ethel turns her glare on Mildred, but before she can say anything back to the girl, one of the other girls at the table pipes up._

_“I think it’d be just dreamy to be swept off your feet by a charming young wizard.”_

_“We don’t even get to really see any boys ‘til we graduate Cackle’s and go to a witching university! It’s not fair…” Another girl adds._

_“My mum and dad won’t even let me see a wizard until I’m a grown witch…” Maud sighs, to Mildred’s left._

_“I don’t get the big deal,” Mildred grimaces. “Boys are smelly and they’re gross, and they’re too loud all the time. What do you want with that lot anyways? I think it’s great that we don’t have to see boys around all the time.”_

_The table falls silent and Mildred gets the feeling she’s said something terribly wrong._

_“What kind of witch_ are _you, Mildred? A-A battygirl?” Ethel demands._

_Mildred can feel Maud and Enid tense up on either side of her, and although she has no idea what Ethel’s talking about, she gets the idea that it wasn’t a compliment._

_“A what?” She asks._

_“You heard me,” Ethel huffs. “You are, aren’t you?”_

_“What does that even mean?”_

_Enid leans in close and whispers in Mildred’s ear. “It’s a witch word… it means a witch who fancies other witches instead of wizards… it’s not… very nice.”_

_Mildred is onset with a spike of cold dread at Enid’s words, and her breath picks up tempo a slight bit._

_Ethel smirks. “Ha! What a disgrace for a witch. Guess the Hubble line starts_ and _ends with the Worst Witch at Cackle’s!”_

_Mildred pushes herself up and away from the table as quickly as she can, dashing from the dining room and retreating to her own room as fast as her feet can take her. Once she arrives, she finds Tabby perched on her bed and curls up beside him, petting him frantically as hot tears trickle down her face._

_-_

Miss Hardbroom crosses her arms and leans her weight against the desk beside Mildred.

“I… see.”

Mildred looks up at her with wet eyes. “I’m really sorry Miss Hardbroom, but Ethel really made me feel quite bad when she said that. I just… I don’t want to be an even worse witch!”

Miss Hardbroom watches her with quite a different expression now, and carefully asks, “is it true then… what Ethel suggested?”

Mildred freezes as fear creeps through her again. Surely the traditional, rule following witch before her must think that she’s wrong for feeling what she’s been feeling. Surely, she’ll judge her too, surely, she’ll-

“Mildred?”

Mildred takes in a shaky breath. “I… um… I think that maybe, perhaps…” Her eyes flit around the room. “I think that I might feel that way, yes. I think that I might… like girls instead of boys.”

Miss Hardbroom closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Mildred feels herself shrink into the stool.

“Please don’t be mad at me Miss Hardbroom, I’ll be an extra good student to make up for it, I promise!”

Miss Hardbroom’s eyes snap open at the words. She looks down at Mildred and frowns.

“I am not _mad_ , and there is no need to make up for anything. There is nothing about that which will make you a poorer witch.”

“But Ethel said-”

“Never mind what that foolish girl said to you, Mildred…” Miss Hardbroom says, “there is nowt wrong with fancying witches.”

Mildred has no words, unsure if Miss Hardbroom truly means what she says, if she truly does not believe in Ethel’s cruelties. When Miss Hardbroom sees that the worry in Mildred’s face remains, she grips the desk beneath her and sighs.

“Mildred… are you capable of maintaining secrecy?”

Mildred’s eyebrows raise quizzically, and she nods sharply.

“Fancying witches does not make you a lesser witch. Trust in my words, Mildred, for I’ve managed just fine so far.”

Mildred’s eyes narrow as she mulls over the words, working out the meaning behind them, and lets out a gasp as it comes together. “You mean… Miss Hardbroom, you…?”

“I said what I said, Mildred Hubble,” Miss Hardbroom says in her usual brusque tone, one which is undermined by the quite unusual softness in her face. Mildred has only ever seen that face a few times in her time at Cackle’s, and even fewer directed at her. “As I said however, do not tell tales of my personal matters outside of these walls. There is nowt wrong with it, but I am a very private witch.”

Mildred nods, a sheepish smile stretching across her face. However, it falls just as soon. Miss Hardbroom raises an eyebrow at Mildred, watching her cautiously.

“Are you still going to punish Ethel for calling me that bad word?” Mildred asks.

Miss Hardbroom pushes herself up from the desk and walks over to her own, back turned to Mildred.

“I… shan’t discipline Ethel Hallow directly,” she pauses, her hand clenching in restraint, “…this time. However, I may be inclined to have a word with the other teachers about encouraging a total lack of tolerance for any sort of behaviour of that nature in this school.”

“Thanks, Miss Hardbroom,” Mildred’s smile returns.

“Not necessary, Mildred,” she shakes her head. “Protecting my pupils is my job."

Without another word, Miss Hardbroom transfers away with a wave of her hand. Mildred lets out a deep breath and rubs her forehead. Just as she is about to leave the potions classroom, she hears her maglet chime. She reaches for it, only to see Miss Hardbroom’s name etching out across the top in her elegant script as the sender.

_I shall still require 500 lines for your unauthorized use of magic._

Mildred rolls her eyes and laughs, but the message continues.

_…and if you have any concerns about such a matter in the future, please do find it suitable to discuss them with me. In utmost confidence, of course._

Mildred smiles wider and grabs her pen from the desk.

_I will._

**Author's Note:**

> So! This is my first foray into fic for this fandom, and I'm starting off with a very strong headcanon of mine - Mildred doesn't like boys and when everyone's favourite lesbian potions teacher finds out she becomes protective over her and they bond because of it.
> 
> As for the pejorative that Ethel uses against Mildred, I 100% made that up, but in case you're wondering, I drew it from the term "battyboy" which is slang for a gay guy, which I thought would fit because witches and bats and such. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
